Cheyenne Mountain State Park - Colorado Springs
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Our drive to Dodge City was on a country highway with great
views of farmlands. As we were heading west, we noticed menacing black clouds
and thunderheads in the distance. I pulled up the radar on my Droid and found a
very large front moving toward us. At that time, the storm was right over Dodge
City and there were alerts for severe thunderstorms, with wind gusts up to 60
mph. Also, there was a possibility of moth ball sized hail. Oh boy, this made
us very nervous. As we got closer to Dodge City, the storm hit us hard. The
wind and rain was driving at us in a broadside direction. This was very scary
as we were concerned that the wind might blow over our trailer. Kurt started to
pull over on the side of the road, which made us both very nervous. Then we
noticed a sign for a small town just a couple of miles ahead and I was able to
look at a satellite view of the area. We made it to the town and pulled off the
road and parked parallel to some kind of industrial building. We stayed there
about 15 minutes, when the wind and rain began to lighten up. We were then able
to go forward past the front and the weather was quite nice and cool. We
located the Walmart and found two other RVs and some semi-trucks parked. We picked
our spot, parked and opened our slides. We then went into Walmart and did some
shopping. The evening there was not too bad, we expected it to be noisier. We
slept pretty good and got up early to get back on the road.
We then headed toward Colorado Springs. The drive was very
uneventful and actually quite enjoyable. Kurt let me drive as the road was a
nice highway and the traffic was minimal. We crossed through the western side
of Kansas and were able to view miles and miles of fertile farmlands. The
plains of Kansas are amazing with wheat fields as far as you could see. There
were many fields of windmills across this part of the state. It was incredible
to see some of the wind farms that seemed to go on forever. Wind energy is a
no-brainer for this part of the country. We crossed the border into Colorado
and after a few hours, we arrived at Cheyenne Mountain S.P. This area is so beautiful;
the campground is in the foothills with Cheyenne Mountain behind us and Fort Carson
just below us. The campground is one of the nicest we have ever been in. Everything
is very neat, clean and organized, with the campsites very well planned. We got
setup with full hookups and relaxed for the evening. The weather was beautiful
and the skies were cloudless. After dark, we had an awesome view of the city
lights. We discussed our plans for the next day. Garden of the Gods was our
plan, as it is very close to Colorado Springs.
The next morning, we packed our cooler with lunch and headed
out to Garden of the Gods. This is a city owned park which was donated by the
original owner’s family to be used for free public access. This park has
enormous red limestone formations and boulders. There are paved walking trails
throughout the park, with many other hiking and mountain biking trails. We
walked the main park trail and took many pictures of the amazing rock
formations. The temperature had climbed up in the upper 90’s and was very hot,
despite the low humidity. We found the picnic area and a little shade for a
nice place to eat our lunch and cool down. Kurt wanted to do some mountain
biking, so we drove over to the parking lot by that trailhead. Kurt rode some
trails for awhile, and decided not to overdo it. The altitude was affecting our
breathing and stamina. We knew this was going to happen, but when you actually
experience it, you have to be careful. We decided to head back to camp, cool
off and let the dogs come outside. We checked out the trails in the park, but
unfortunately dogs are not allowed on any hiking trails in this park. Kurt
found some mountain bike trails and decided to ride some. He was having a great
time, but the altitude did make him stop sooner than he wanted. After that, we
relaxed the rest of the evening and had some dinner. We discussed our plans for
the next day and we wanted to go up to Pikes Peak, but the forecast was for
very high winds. So we decided to do that the following day. The next day we
would go down to Royal Gorge Bridge & Park.
The next morning we got up early, as the drive to Royal
Gorge was about 60 miles south. The drive was through some very
lovely farmland and rural communities. The last town before the bridge is Canon
(canyon) City. It’s a neat little farming/tourist town. The park was just 12
miles past Canon City. We finally arrived at the park entrance and found a place
to park. The entrance fee was kind of steep, $26 per person. But, if you want
to play you have to pay the man! This is a privately owned and maintained park.
We entered the park and walked across the bridge first. Wow, the winds were
very strong and could almost blow you over. I had to hold on to the bridge
railings. The bridge is 986 feet above the canyon floor, which is very narrow.
The Arkansas River flows through the canyon, with white water rapids. There
were rafts below; it looked like it would be fun. We hung out on the bridge,
taking our time going across. There were flags from all the 50 states along the
bridge. The park had rides that included a tram and zipline that went over the
canyon. Those rides cost extra $$. We had no interest in those anyway. The
south side of the bridge had a little mock up of a western town. It was kind of
cool, with various buildings you might see in an old western town. After visiting that, we walked back across the
bridge and took more pictures. I decided to go back across and Kurt wanted to
stay on the bridge with binoculars to look around. I was standing near the
north end of the bridge when I noticed a small black plume of smoke on the
south side; it looked a few miles away. However, knowing the dry, low humidity
and high temp conditions, I knew it couldn’t be good. I waved at Kurt to come
off the bridge. We had not yet taken the incline tram down to the bottom of the
gorge. We stood at an overlook area and watched the fire expand quickly. At
this point, the rangers were running sirens and heading to the south side of
the bridge. They were evacuating all the visitors on that side. We got in line to board the incline. The tram
headed down into the gorge. By the time
the tram got to the bottom, they announced that the whole park was being
evacuated! Darn, we then had to head back up to the top. It was disappointing
that we didn’t get a chance to walk around at the bottom. However, it was
quickly becoming a dangerous situation. When we got off the incline car, they were
rushing to get everyone out of the park. We were advised to leave in an orderly
and quick manner. Many people continued to linger in pull off areas along the
road to watch and take more pictures. Kurt did the same once we got about 5
miles away from the park at a tourist business. We took some more pictures and
then decided to get out of there since everyone was trying to leave. We made it
to Canon City and felt a little more relaxed, even though the smoke was
building very fast and moving towards Canon City. We then got back on the
highway and headed back to Cheyenne Mountain. By the time we got back to camp,
the smoke from Royal Gorge filled the sky in that whole area. The wind was
blowing it in that direction. Our eyes and throats were burning from the thick
smoke. Unbelievable, as the fire was more than 60 miles away. We turned on the
local TV channel and discovered that there was another fire burning just
northeast of Colorado Springs, in a rural neighborhood. This neighborhood is
called Black Forest and has very large nice homes on about 5 acre lots. We
watched the news reports on both fires. The Royal Gorge fire was spreading
extremely fast and by the next day, over 3000 acres had been burned. The fire
had jumped the gorge and had burned three building structures within the park.
Also, the incline rail had been damaged.
We’re so glad that we saw this awesome canyon and bridge when we did. It
may be awhile before the park may reopen. The last report was that the bridge
did have some minor damage, but not structural.
The rest of the evening we continued to watch news reports
on the fires. The Black Forest fire was also spreading very fast and they had
not yet been able to contain any of the fire. By the time we left on Thursday,
the reports had stated over 300 homes were completely destroyed, but there were
no injuries or loss of life. It’s so sad to see people’s homes go up in flames.
The next morning was scheduled for the day to go up to Pikes
Peak. The wind was still pretty strong, but not as bad as the previous day. We
left the camp around 10 am and headed to Manitou Springs, where the Pikes Peak
Cog Railway station is based. The train takes the rail up a slow grade to the
peak of the mountain. The ride takes 1.5 hours one way. It was a beautiful view
all the way up, with waterfalls, wildlife, views of other mountain peaks and
some historical landmarks. The ride was very comfortable and when we got to the
top, we were able to exit the train car and walk around for about 40 minutes.
They will not allow anyone to stay up at 14,110’ altitude, as it makes some
people sick. We even felt a little wiggy if we moved around too fast or bent
over and stood up quickly. It was also quite chilly up at the top, we had
brought jackets and they were used. Kurt and I took many pictures from the peak
and the view was amazing, even though the distance was smoky from the local
fires. The ride back down the mountain was about the same, with great views.
After returning to the train station, we headed into Manitou Springs to walk
around the quaint little old town. There were many shops, restaurants and art
galleries. It was a cool little place with a history of gold mining.
We headed back to camp and stopped for a few groceries. That
evening we began prepping for the next day’s move on up the road. Our next stop
is in Estes Park, Colorado. The drive up there should be awesome through the
mountains. We sat outside again and watched the city lights down below the
park.
